Thursday, January 3, 2013

Daring You To Read… Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

Daring You To Read is a weekly feature here on Tynga’s Reviews where we dare you to read some of our favorite older releases (at least 6 months old). All the books/series we choose to feature are titles we adored and think you should give them a shot! We think it’s a super awesome way to discover that special book who might have slipped off your radar!

You’ve already read the book? Let’s us know what you thought! You are accepting the dare? We’d love to know! Have a dare of your own? Leave a comment ^^

I have a feeling some people won’t exactly agree with me on this dare. I read BEAUTIFUL CREATURES by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl about a month ago and I immediately fell in love with the dark but thrilling southern tale. Some critics aren’t too crazy about the series because they say it’s not very realistic and that the book drags on for nothing. I obviously disagree with that because I’m daring you to read it this week! I’m not from the south so I don’t know how realistic it really is but lets face it, it is a story about magic and witches (or casters as they call them in this book), so how real can it actually be? And personally, I really liked all the extra details that shaped the story into this thick and long book. I really don’t think you should critic a book based on the page count.

This YA book was one of my favorite YA reads of 2012 so it’s no wonder it found its way onto this post. All the characters are well developed which made it so easy to fall for the story. It was full of mystery and a lots of unknowns, exactly how I like my books. I like to be kept guessing right until the end, and BEAUTIFUL CREATURES did that wonderfully.

I still haven’t read the other three books of the series so I’m only speaking for the first, but if the rest is anything like this one, I’m sure they’ll be great. Some people must agree with me that this book is worth reading because a movie is coming out on February 13, 2013. Check out the movie trailer down below.

Lena Duchannes is unlike anyone the small Southern town of Gatlin has ever seen, and she’s struggling to conceal her power and a curse that has haunted her family for generations. But even within the overgrown gardens, murky swamps, and crumbling graveyards of the forgotten South, a secret cannot stay hidden forever.

Ethan Wate, who has been counting the months until he can escape from Gatlin, is haunted by dreams of a beautiful girl he has never met. When Lena moves into the town’s oldest and most infamous plantation, Ethan is inexplicably drawn to her and determined to uncover the connection between them.

Stéphanie

Stéphanie is a 27 year old Optometrist living in a small community in Northern Ontario and even if she liked living in Montreal for 5 years, she believes the small town life is more her style. Ever since she was little she loved books and stories. It's no surprise that today, you'll always find her with a book within arm's reach.

I definitely think this book is worth reading, although I must admit that I didn’t love. I do think it is too long. I am not saying that long books are great, because they are. Look at Harry Potter. That said, I don’t think longer equals better, or shorter equals better. A book should be as long as it should be. And I found this one a bit too wordy. I didn’t dislike it, but I haven’t rushed out to read the rest of the series.

I do think now would be the perfect time to read Beautiful Creatures, though, because of the movie. I’m pretty excited to see it.

This series is so worth the dare. It has made it on to my Favourite Series Ever list, which is remarkably short, along with The Mortal Instruments and Jonathan Maberry’s Rot and Ruin series. That’s the one I dare you to read, it is sooooo much more than zombies.

I’m one of the people who wasn’t too crazy about it Mostly because of the ending. But I still loved it enough to continue the series and I hope to read book 2 soon. I especially can’t wait to see the movie.

I liked this book, and I liked the MC’s voice, but it dragged on too much, in my opinion. I can’t count how many times Ethan nagged about the ‘us vs. them’ and how his friends kept on giving him opportunities to go back to ‘their’ side. In truth, I had the feeling the book focused more on that than on the caster story. But I did like it, and iwll read the sequels.